Guatemala inaugurates embassy in Jerusalem amid controversy

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday, and he hopes to profit from his loyal support.

Some 150 people crammed into the foyer of the embassy, including US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, Sheldon Adelson, Jerusalem mayor, Nir Barkat and numerous Guatemalan ministers and members of the legislature, attended the event.

Guatemala's Embassy in Israel officially opened in Jerusalem after relocation of its operations from Tel Aviv, a Sputnik correspondent reported Wednesday.

President Trump announced his decision on Jerusalem in December, triggering a joyous reaction from Netanyahu's government. The move infuriated the Palestinians, who claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital.

The embassy move added fuel to the weekly Palestinian protests in Gaza demanding the right of return to Israel and the lifting of a decade-old naval blockade.

The heavy Palestinian death toll, along with hundreds of wounded, made it by far the bloodiest day of cross-border violence since a devastating 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. "And we'd also like to see Israel Streets in Guatemala".

The US however, blocked a statement drafted by Kuwait that called for an independent investigation in to the killing of the Palestinian protesters in Gaza, and that called on countries not to station their diplomatic missions in Jerusalem.

At the same time, Israel has found other nations following the USA lead and rallying to its defense.

Guatemala has relocated its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, just two days after the US.

No country in the world recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital up until December 2017, when Trump declared it as such, breaking with decades of USA policy favouring the division of Jerusalem between Israel and a future Palestinian state.